Mahadeep Singh Jamwal
Disturbed and anarchic societies exhaust all their potential in unworthy things. On the other hand, if they have a sense of safety, security and order they can develop and prosper. This is where the role of police becomes important in society. At all times, in some form or the other, this system existed with varied responsibilities and duties. It is generally felt that police play in the hands of Government, whereas police is a lawful command of the government for maintaining peace and execution of law enacted by the peoples representatives. When we talk of police in India prior to attaining independence, it has remained an instrument in the hands of rulers for keeping people under subjugation and suppression. But with the changes in the forms of the government in due course of time responsibilities and functions of police have also undergone changes depending upon the social set up they have to serve. The police had been concentrating on their assigned duties only and little was thought about maintaining relations with the people to whom police had to deliver. In modern democratic India changes in the social structure during the past few decades have been many and multi-dimensional. There has been a lot of awakening among the people, the level of education and literacy has gone up from 12% at the time of independence to around 75% presently. All this has increased expectations from the police. This has added new dimensions to police work not only in the quality, approach, behavior and methods of police work but also developing a spirit of general helpfulness to the people to prove it as ‘Peoples Police’ than ‘Ruler Police’. Another area in which the direct involvement of police is being, increasingly felt is the eradication of social evils, like child marriage, wanton labor, drugs addiction, smuggling, black marketing etc. Another area where the service of police towards society needs appreciation is at the time of natural calamities and catastrophes at many occasions. In all these Areas, where society needs help from the police, at the same time police need cooperation from the society. The police must recognize we are members of society with the only difference being that in the interest of the community and on its behalf we are employed to give full time attention to redress the grievance of the society. Often, the relationship of law enforcement organizations and their communities is seen as unidirectional. In reality, a healthy relationship between police and community requires reciprocal input from the community. With the changing scenario, presently it is a matter of great concern for law enforcing agencies to bond with the public and police relations with the community are the need of the hour. Police attract criticism and one of the reasons we can arrive at is that police have distanced itself from the public and day by day we are losing the co-operation of the community that we have to serve. Police depend on the community to report crimes, cooperate as witnesses, and even look out for themselves and other officers. Police work runs much more smoothly with the trust and cooperation of the community. The relationship is the backbone of the community policing strategy. It determines the level of public confidence in the police, the level of public satisfaction with police activities and the level of trust the public has on the police. It also influences the level of support and respect given to the police by the public. With the changing environment police can perform efficiently only when we have the cooperation from the community.
How can we gain the public’s confidence ? 1) Police must not evade the registration of a crime as that means committing a breach of law under the Penal Code. Such evasions embolden the criminal. 2) Police must not misbehave with the citizens; 3) Police must not implicate innocent persons in criminal cases and must not fabricate evidence with a view to securing conviction; 4) Police must not resort to third-degree methods in the investigation of cases. Such practices only tend to alienate the police from the public, and are not permitted by the law either; 5) Police must not extort confessions from the accused by adopting tortuous methods of investigation; 6) Police must be apolitical in their professional capacity and impartial in their application of law; 7) Police shall not indulge in excesses like violation of the principle of the minimum use of force; 8) Police officials must not show any proclivity to please the political bosses for their personal and professional gains.
Some of the measures I suggest are: We have to develop relations with community led organizations. Monthly meetings can help us to engage with the community. Community-police advisory board: (All party meeting). This will help in digging into issues more than others. Much of the honest information comes from the community members when we interact with community members. There must be a qualitative awareness and transformation between the police and the public that restore their relationship on issues related to their rights and duties. Police should implement diversion programs that improve public safety by not arresting and inflicting fear on the people but by resolving the root issues causing crimes. The key to improving police effectiveness and public safety is to return to the fundamental principles of modern policing, which means both increasing police-community trust and preventing crime instead of reacting to crime. Law enforcement agencies need to focus their efforts on public safety priorities, and directly engage the community in our work. “The relationship between the public and the police that are entrusted to protect them is critically important.
Concluding: The literature on the Indian police system is meager. The role of the police has evolved continuously and still needs change. There is an urgent need to transform it into a professional service rather than one who is simply following the orders of the authority unmindfully. The ethics, conduct in public, public dealing mannerisms, legitimate use of power, and freedom of police are certain aspects of the police department that are expected to be maintained by you and that will definitely change image that has been carried by the police from the British era of discourteous, rude, and aggressive needs to public-friendly police. When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
